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03 March 2014

Have you seen that 1973 Public Service Announcement on Equal Pay for Equal Work? Well, it's a hoot to say the least. They captured the spirit of the original series, and Batgirl even work her original costume, according to Yvonne Craig herself.

Her one caveat to reprising her role as Batgirl was that the production team would have to locate her original costume. That turned out to be a difficult feat but one was finally found, albeit in an unusual place. She tells us, “They were unable to find one that was intact (because I did my own stunts we only had three – one that had completely lost its shape, the one I was currently wearing [when the show ended] and one that was in the process of being made and was missing a front panel and sleeve when we shut down). Suddenly we heard that Burt had a ‘friend’ who might just have one. It was definitely the one I wore, complete with wig!”

She continues, “At the end of the day, Burt stood outside my dressing room door, waiting for me to hand him back the ‘friend’s’ Batgirl suit. In recent years after he’d been ‘outed’, and there was no one left at Fox to dispute it, he has taken to saying that he bought it from them. At the time we needed it, however, they said it had been pinched! Holy crimefighter theft!”

Costume trouble aside, the PSA was an enjoyable experience for Craig. She concludes, “The shoot took place three years after the series had ended and, yes, [it] was my final appearance as Batgirl. Fun times.”

Dick Gautier came pretty close to fooling me in his role as Batman. Apparently Adam West was not interested in reprising his role for this commercial.

In the commercial, the government script writers gave Craig the line, "I've worked for you for a long time and I'm paid less than Robin." From my memory, Batgirl did not work for Batman at all, she was another crime fighter who formed her identity from Batman's image. Besides that, Robin was "working" for Batman long before Barbara Gordon graduated college to be a librarian and make all manner of unauthorized changes to her landlord's apartment building for her secret dressing room and motorcycle garage.

According to the Bat-Mania website, the actors were paid these amounts per episode for season 3:

Salary rates for the third season
All salaries are for each half hour episode: